This weekend at the Peru / Grissom site, the NCCC / Corvette Club hosted an autocross event. The Vitour P1 tire was allowed in all classes and was well-represented throughout the weekend, with many drivers using it and achieving great results.
Sunday's Event
On Sunday, we had four dry runs before the rain started. I was actually looking forward to the rain, as it was the perfect opportunity to test the P1 in wet conditions at Grissom—a chance we hadn’t had all season. It was also a good moment to see how the E-Ray would perform. As expected, the E-Ray was great, but the Vitour P1 tires far exceeded expectations.
There's been some speculation about the Vitour Tempesta P1's performance in the rain, and I had mixed feelings based on previous road course experience. I wouldn’t say they were great or bad—just average.
I had ran them in the rain once in 2023 season, and that event I didn't feel like I was at any disadvantage relative to everyone elses times but I also had A052 on the rear of the car and the P1 in 285/15 on the front, and thus I wasn't able to draw any real conclusions.
The results from this event told a more clear story.
Dry Runs
During the dry runs, I set the FTD time, and did so back to back within a few hundredths.
This was the first time I turned off all the car’s nannies, and it made a more significant difference than I expected. I shaved off quite a bit of time, realizing that the car had even more potential on corner exits—it just required more throttle patience. In turning everything off, I lost launch control, however any time lost there is made up elsewhere.
Kevin Keyes, a local fast guy with a very fast CAM-S car on RE71RS tires, was just a tenth of a second behind me. Zach Rogers, driving a C8 Stingray on 295/18 345/19 Vitour P1 tires, and Ron McManus (CAM-S on Yokohama A052 tires) were also in the mix.
Wet Conditions
When the rain came, I set the fastest time in my group, consistently being either the fastest or 2nd fastest for each set of runs. Even in varying conditions, I remained at the top. Assuming I read results right, as they were a bit jumbled, Ron was about 1.5 seconds behind me on a 45-second course, finishing second in our group.
In the next run group, Zach Rogers on the P1 set the fastest time, even beating mine. While he likely drove better, the conditions were variable, with the rain coming and going. Regardless, these results show that while AWD is an advantage, the P1s are still competitive.
Zach and I were both surprised by how well the tires performed in the wet. We both agreed that the P1s exceeded expectations, seeing 1.1G in corners. I let him drive the E-Ray in the wet, and he managed to put down a faster time than I did with everything off, teaching me that I should stop relying on the E-Ray’s PTM system, even in the rain.
Conclusion
While I didn’t get a chance to do a direct A/B comparison, I plan to if the opportunity arises. I also don’t plan to run dedicated rain tires. From what I’ve seen, the Vitour P1 is plenty capable in wet conditions and definitely in the conversation. Maybe there is something to that Water Razor Technology and Swordfish after all.
Video Links:
Dallas dry FTD run on Vitour P1: https://youtu.be/bvzU8rnBZi8
Zach’s wet lap in the E-Ray with Vitour P1: https://youtu.be/BqONK9UdW9M
Dallas’ wet run in the E-Ray with Vitour P1: https://youtu.be/uD504USGg90
